A controversial digital ID rollout is being pushed by China’s data watchdog to force companies to protect users’ information in the internet domain. In Beijing, companies have come under fire for overcollecting user data, which the watchdog pledged to take action against. Some experts have shared their fears that privacy for users is not the government’s real motive and introducing a nationwide centralised digital identification system will just have more hold over Chinese citizens where censorship and surveillance prevails everyday.
The proposal is to opt-in to using a state ID that would enable people to verify their identity online without handing over personal information to the middle body – the service providers – however the government still has extensive access to monitoring their online behaviour and communications. Holistically, it is the government stamping out privacy who have ultimate control over regulation to align companies, but they also collect too much data from their citizens.
The Cyberspace Administration of China and the Ministry of Public Security envisions creating a unified system for identity verification, however it can never reach privacy and fairness excluding self-sovereignty over users’ data.
It only instructs on the other hand that companies should not retain or request data after the initial onboarding is complete. Meanwhile, users are already used to the protocol of using their real identities to register for digital services.
The IDs will be voluntary at first and would be used in place of real names and phone numbers to register for these services. The centralised data management system has risks associated with potential breaches and if fraudsters were to seize the data, trust in the government would be severed after similar incidents.
A pilot application is set up on Chinese app stores to test the digital ID.
